Zachariah Charbonnet ( ; born January 8, 2001) is an American professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

running back A running back (RB) is a member of the offensive backfield in gridiron football. The primary roles of a running back are to receive American football plays#Offensive terminology, handoffs from the quarterback to Rush (American football)#Offense ...

for the

Seattle Seahawks The Seattle Seahawks are a professional American football team based in Seattle. The Seahawks compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC West, West division. The club entered the NFL a ...

of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

(NFL). He played

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

for the

Michigan Wolverines The Michigan Wolverines comprise 29 varsity sports teams at the University of Michigan. These teams compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Association, NCAA's NCAA Division I, Division I and in the Big Ten Conference in all sports except wo ...

and

UCLA Bruins The UCLA Bruins are the athletic teams that represent the University of California, Los Angeles. The Bruin men's and women's teams participate in NCAA Division I as part of the Big Ten Conference and the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF ...

. He was a two-time All-Pac-12 Conference selection with UCLA and was named an

All-American The All-America designation is an annual honor bestowed on outstanding athletes in the United States who are considered to be among the best athletes in their respective sport. Individuals receiving this distinction are typically added to an Al ...

by the FWAA in 2022. Charbonnet was selected by the Seahawks in the second round of the

2023 NFL draft The 2023 NFL draft was the 88th annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible players for the 2023 NFL season, 2023 season. The NFL draft, draft was held outside of Kansas City Union Station, Union Station i ...

Early life

Zach Charbonnet was born on January 8, 2001, and grew up in

Camarillo, California Camarillo ( ) is a city in Ventura County, California, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, the population was 70,741, an increase of 5,540 from the 65,201 counted in the 2010 Census. Camarillo is named for brothers Juan and ...

. His mother, Seda, is part Cambodian and

Chinese Chinese may refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people identified with China, through nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **Han Chinese, East Asian ethnic group native to China. **'' Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic ...

, and she immigrated to the United States from France. His father, Mark, is African-American. Charbonnet did not begin playing football until the seventh grade. He attended

Oaks Christian School Oaks Christian School (OCS) is a co-educational, college-preparatory, non-denominational Christian school serving grades 4–12. Oaks Christian School is located on in Westlake Village, Los Angeles County, California. The school was established ...

Westlake Village, California Westlake Village is a city in Los Angeles County, California, on its western border with Ventura County. Upon its incorporation in 1981, Westlake Village became the 82nd municipality of Los Angeles County.Baker, Pam (2002). ''Thousand Oaks We ...

, where he tallied 4,741

rushing yards In gridiron football, a carry or rushing attempt is a statistical term equivalent to a single rushing play. The term is typically used in reference to "yards per carry", meaning yards per attempt rushing the ball. Although running backs are typica ...

and 62 total

touchdown A touchdown (abbreviated as TD) is a scoring play in gridiron football. Scoring a touchdown grants the team that scored it 6 points. Whether running, passing, returning a kickoff or punt, or recovering a turnover, a team scores a touchd ...

s. He had 2,049 yards and 23 touchdowns as a junior. Former Oaks Christian coach Jim Benkert described Charbonnet as follows: "He's the best there is. He's got all the measurements and loves the game. He's one of those guys who can take over a game on either side of the ball and is probably the best running back in the country. He competes at a high level on every play. You can't coach that kind of stuff. He's a throwback player. He does his job and doesn't care about statistics. All he cares about is winning." Charbonnet was rated among the top running back prospects in the country – ranked No. 3 by

247Sports.com 247Sports is an American network of websites that focus mainly on athletic recruitment in college football and basketball. It is owned and operated by Paramount. The website hosts a large network of team-specific subsites, with each subsite bei ...

, No. 4 by Rivals.com, and No. 6 by

ESPN.com ESPN.com is the official website of ESPN. It is owned by ESPN Internet Ventures, a division of ESPN Inc. History Since launching in April 1995 as ESPNET.SportsZone.com (ESPNET SportsZone), the website has developed numerous sections including ...

. He was also invited to play in the 2019

Under Armour All-America Game The Under Armour High School All-America Game is a high school football all-star game typically held in early January in the United States, U.S. U.S. state, state of Florida created to spotlight the nation’s top high school seniors. The game wa ...

. On June 23, 2018, prior to the start of his senior year in high school, Charbonnet committed to play

at the

University of Michigan The University of Michigan (U-M, U of M, or Michigan) is a public university, public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest institution of higher education in the state. The University of Mi ...

College career

Michigan

Shortly after his enrollment at Michigan in January 2019, Charbonnet underwent knee surgery. He missed spring practice while recuperating, but was recovered by late summer. Charbonnet started at running back in Michigan's 2019 season opener. He totaled 99 yards, 90 rushing yards on eight carries and nine receiving yards on two receptions. On September 7, against

Army An army, ground force or land force is an armed force that fights primarily on land. In the broadest sense, it is the land-based military branch, service branch or armed service of a nation or country. It may also include aviation assets by ...

, Charbonnet had his first 100-yard rushing game, and recorded three touchdowns. On October 12, against

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...

, Charbonnet had 108 rushing yards in the first half. He finished the game with 116 yards on 18 carries, and a touchdown. On November 2, against

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It borders the states of Virginia to its south, West Virginia to its west, Pennsylvania to its north, and Delaware to its east ...

, Charbonnet recorded two touchdowns, setting a Michigan program record for the most touchdowns by a freshman with 11. Charbonnet concluded the 2019 season with 726 rushing yards and 11 touchdowns (a Michigan freshman record) on 149 carries. During the 2020 season, Charbonnet totaled 124 yards and one touchdown on 19 carries. In January 2021, Charbonnet announced his intent to transfer and entered the

NCAA transfer portal The NCAA transfer portal is a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) application, database, and compliance tool created to manage and facilitate the process for student athletes seeking to transfer between member institutions. It is i ...

UCLA

On January 30, 2021, Charbonnet announced his intention to transfer to the

University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school the ...

. During the

2021 season 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

, he and Brittain Brown shared the

Bruins Bruin, (from Dutch for "brown"), is an English folk term for brown bear. Bruin, Bruins or BRUIN may also refer to: Places * Lake Bruin, ox-bow lake of the Mississippi River located in northeastern Louisiana ** Lake Bruin State Park * Bruin, K ...

' rushing duties in a two-back system. With Brown out injured against

USC USC may refer to: Education United States * Universidad del Sagrado Corazón, Santurce, Puerto Rico * University of South Carolina, Columbia, South Carolina ** University of South Carolina System, a state university system of South Carolina * ...

, Charbonnet had season highs of 28 carries and 167 yards, while surpassing the 1,000-yard milestone for the season.

Pac-12 The Pac-12 Conference is a collegiate athletic conference in the Western United States. It participates at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I level for all sports, and its football teams compete in the Football Bowl ...

coaches voted Charbonnet second-team all-conference, and the

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American not-for-profit organization, not-for-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association, and produces news reports that are dist ...

named him the conference's newcomer of the year. He finished with 1,137 yards rushing and 13 touchdowns, ranking second in the conference in rushing yards per game with 94.8, behind B. J. Baylor of

Oregon State Oregon State University (OSU) is a public land-grant research university in Corvallis, Oregon, United States. OSU offers more than 200 undergraduate degree programs and a variety of graduate and doctoral degrees through all 11 of the universit ...

. On January 14, 2022, Charbonnet announced that he would return to UCLA in

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

for his senior season. On October 8, he rushed for a career-high 198 yards and a touchdown on 22 carries in a 42–32 win over No. 11

Utah Utah is a landlocked state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is one of the Four Corners states, sharing a border with Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico. It also borders Wyoming to the northea ...

. He tied his career-high with 198 yards rushing in a win against

Stanford Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth governor of and th ...

, rushing for three touchdowns while also leading the team with five receptions for 61 yards. Charbonnet finished the season with 1,359 yards rushing and 14 touchdowns, while catching 37 passes for 321 yards. He was named a first-team

as an all-purpose specialist by the

Football Writers Association of America The Football Writers Association of America (FWAA) is an organization of college football media members in the United States founded in 1941. It is composed of approximately 1,200 professional sports writers from both print and Internet media out ...

. He led the nation with 168

all-purpose yards All-purpose yards or all-purpose yardage is a gridiron football statistical measure. It is virtually the same as the statistic that some football leagues refer to as combined net yards. In the game of football, progress is measured by advancing ...

per game. His 1,680 all-purpose yards were the eighth-highest single-season total in UCLA history. After the season, Charbonnet declared for the

, forgoing his remaining year of eligibility, which was granted by the NCAA for all players on a roster during the 2020 season impacted by the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

Statistics

Professional career

Charbonnet was selected by the

in the second round of the

with the 52nd overall pick. In Week 13, he scored his first NFL touchdown on a one-yard rush against the

Dallas Cowboys The Dallas Cowboys are a professional American football team based in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The Cowboys compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC East, East division. T ...

. As a rookie, Charbonnet appeared in 16 games and started three. He finished with 108 carries for 462 rushing yards and one rushing touchdown to go with 33 receptions for 209 receiving yards.

NFL career statistics

Regular season

References

External links

Seattle Seahawks bio

UCLA Bruins bio

Michigan Wolverines bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Charbonnet, Zach 2001 births Living people Sportspeople from Camarillo, California Players of American football from Ventura County, California American football running backs American people of Cambodian descent American people of French descent American sportspeople of Chinese descent Louisiana Creole people Michigan Wolverines football players UCLA Bruins football players 21st-century African-American sportsmen 21st-century American sportsmen Seattle Seahawks players Oaks Christian School alumni Under Armour All-American football players Asian American players of American football